5 replies to this topic

[sopa]

Last year we had a close battle between Ferrari and McLaren for second. McLaren was the favourite, but managed to throw it away with consistent errors, while Ferrari collected good points for the whole last third of the season with Massa coming good too.

 

Now we are about to enter the Asian leg of the season again. Once again Red Bull is out at the front, but the battle for second is on. Ferrari is a protagonist again, this time main rival is Mercedes. Lotus has dropped behind and is unlikely to participate in the fight.

 

Ferrari 248 pts

Mercedes 245 pts

 

Notably Alonso is ahead of Hamilton in the drivers standings, while Rosberg has a similar significant advantage over Massa.

 

Thoughts on who'll come out on top?

 

Edit: Sorry, I meant 2013. My head is not in the right place!

Edited by sopa, 08 September 2013 - 21:42.

[st99]

I think Mercedes will just get it. They have a better pairing of drivers and even if in the low downforce tracks they weren't as fast, in the next races they should be backin the fight for the win.

[Anderis]

I think Mercedes have a stronger driver pairing, but Ferrari have a more consistent car. But on a good day, Mercedes may threat Red Bull, and I don't think Ferrari may. I also rate Rosberg over Massa so I would bet on Mercedes. But in recent years Ferrari tended to up their game towards the end of the season and Mercedes tended to drop their ball. It may end both ways I think. 2013/2014 balance may influence the thing, if one of those teams decide to develop 2013 car until the very end and another to abandon the development of 2013 car, the first one will have an advantage here and may edge it with some margin at the end of the season.

[SamH123]

I think the Merc is a better package now

Monza is probably Ferrari's strongest track of the year and had Hamilton not screwed up qualifying he probably would have edged out the Ferrari's in Q3, and the race pace looked more than enough to beat them in the race IMO

[Kingshark]

Ferrari are more consistent. Mercedes can beat Red Bull on a good day, but on a bad day (hot track temps) they can be disastrously slow. Ferrari are never really fast enough to challenge RBR, but they are never particularly slow either. However, Mercedes have a better drivers pairing, Hamilton and Alonso are equals, but Rosberg is better than Massa.

 

So overall, I'd probably give Merc a slight edge, though I'm rooting for Ferrari.

[Tonka]

Ferrari.  Massa is racing to keep his seat and will be going for it at every race.  Rosberg lacks that determination.  Hamilton & Alonso will probably end up with equal scores over the rest of the season.